A Missouri death row inmate is keeping executions front and center.
Convicted killer Russell Bucklew is set for execution Wednesday.
His lawyers sought a stay, citing a rare health condition that could lead to extreme pain and suffocation during a lethal injection.
But a U.S. District Court judge denied the stay, ruling there was insufficient evidence.
Diann Rust-Tierney from the National Coalition to Abolish the Death penalty says this execution raises new questions.
(SOUNDBITE)(English) DIANN RUST-TIERNEY, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF THE NATIONAL COALITION TO ABOLISH THE DEATH PENALTY SAYING:
"This particular execution raises constitutional issues. We have ample evidence from doctors that the state of Missouri can not carry out this execution without subjecting this prisoner to excruciating pain, and for that reason alone, it shouldn't go forward."
Bucklew was convicted in 1996 for murder, kidnapping and rape.
Bucklew's lawyers also asked the